1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an electric connector plug and, in particular, to a fast electric connector plug satisfying the category 6 standard.
2. Related Art
In response to future fast network application in the Ethernet, the U.S. Telecommunications industry Associations (TIA) develops an enhanced CAT-6 standard on top of the CAT-5 100 MHz wiring system. The CAT-6 standard is expanded from 100 MHz of the CAT-5 standard to 200 MHz. Its capacity is also higher than that of CAT-5 by 25%. Therefore, the test frequency for CAT-6 cables may even reach 250 MHz. The biggest difference between CAT-6 and CAT-5 is the improvement in cross-talks and return losses. For new generation full duplex fast network applications, fewer return losses are very important. The cross-talk is a key factor for the best bandwidth. Although 100 Mbps is still the mainstream in current network setups, the CAT-6 standard will be more suitable for the future needs.
The above-mentioned standard does not only apply to fast communication cables. To maintain the same fast transmission speed in fast communication network systems, related peripheral devices of fast communication cables, particularly the electric connectors (such as RJ-45 plugs and jacks), have to have corresponding designs. The connector commonly used in fast communication networks is the RJ-45 connector (including plugs and jacks). The normal RJ-45 connector is 8P8C, where 8P means 8 positions and 8C means 8 gold-plated contacts. In practice, only two pairs are really used and the other two pairs are saved for telephone lines or fax machines. EIA/TIA defines two kinds of connectors, namely EIA/TIA-568A and EIA/TIA-568B. The EIA/TIA-568A, however, has been abandoned; only EIA/TIA-568B is still in use. Its pins, from 1 to 8, are covered by the following colors: white-orange, orange, white-green, blue, white-blue, green, white-brown, and brown, respectively.
Most of the prior art emphasize on the structure of jacks, in order to satisfy the above-mentioned standards. But they all have some problems. To solve these problems, the inventor proposed a solution, disclosed in the pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/954,054. In these applications, a configuration was proposed to keep any twisted pair in the twist relation before it touches contacts of the plug. Therefore, the configuration can achieve more reliable fast data transmissions. However, the guide channels of the applications do not constrain the twisted pairs therein. Therefore, the positions of the wires after the guide channels are hard to control. In other words, the two wires in each twisted pair cannot be controlled to align with the corresponding contacts. This drawback thus requires extra procedures for calibration.
An objective of the invention is to improve the structure of conventional plugs and provide a fast transmission electric connector plug satisfying the category 6 (CAT-6) standard. The invention uses an insertion element that can be put into an electric connector plug. This insertion element has several guide channels, which are distributed in four directions relative to the same central point. Each twisted pair of the fast communication cable is connected to the contacts at the front end of the plug under the guidance of the corresponding guide channel. The cross section of each guide channel is a long hole for a twisted pair to pass through in parallel. In this manner, the wire positions can be readily controlled. Besides easy alignment with the contacts, the compensation between the wires can be made to satisfy the CAT-6 standard for fast communications.
Another objective of the invention is to provide an electric connector plug with better assembly quality.
To achieve the above objectives, the insertion element of the invention has two parts, including a carrier and a cover. The carrier and the cover tightly hold the fast communication cable before each twisted pair and the insertion element are installed inside the plug. This can prevent the end of any cable from being displaced due to friction in the assembly process, resulting in incorrect connections with the contacts.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.